This Amazing Timelapse of Singapore Took 3 Years to Shoot

Typically when you hear about principal photography taking years to complete, it's some epic 3-hour feature like Boyhood, not a 5-minute time-lapse video.

But that's exactly what Australian filmmaker Keith Loutit's piece The Lion City II: Majulah is—a 5-minute time-lapse video that took years to shoot—three years, in fact, from June 2013 until this month. The gorgeous cityscapes captured in Singapore, which are more than deserving of its Vimeo Staff Pick, show the city's interesting change over time.

"When we pass by landscapes they appear fixed in time, but they change around us constantly. The idea behind this film is to reveal this change by returning to the same camera positions over the years."

After watching this, the first question that comes to mind is, "How!?" Loutit explains that shooting, which he did on the Nikon D4, several of which were set in different locations throughout the city, took three years to complete. And because of the project's sheer amount of data, he had to edit simultaneously. But though he has shared a little bit of information about his process, Loutit is keeping his trade secrets closely guarded.

So, maybe we don't know how he did it, but, somehow, that doesn't matter so much. We can appreciate this piece for its lovely use of color grading, dynamic motion, and powerful message, that even though we may not notice, the world is changing all around us.

I think that's patently wrong. There are "master artists," and they are in each field. Otherwise, you're saying art has absolutely no objective content. Where do people get this strange idea that all art is of the same value?

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